Of Foxes and Fireworks
by Hanabi's Biggest Fan
Summary: About to graduate the academy with pretty girls on his mind, Naruto wishes the mean ones were nice, or the nice one was less weird. But he has unknowingly sparked the attention of a firework, and is about to find himself even more confused and uncomfortable as the subject of her curiosity.
1. Chapter 1

A/N: Hello all, Brian Stentzel here. Wow it feels weird to type that. I think I'm officially the only person on FF who uses their real name as their alias. Anyway, after years of trying to get authors to write NarutoxHanabi stories, I've decided that it is finally time for me to write my own.

I may add more notes to the beginning of future chapters if comments or questions in reviews warrant it, but for now let's get right to it.

-=NH4L=-

"That will be sufficient for today. Do you have any questions?"

"No, sensei."

"Then let us be on our way. We wouldn't want to keep Hiashi-sama waiting, now would we?" With his characteristic twinkling eyes, the teenage branch member led the youngest Hyuuga out of the training ground and back toward the clan district. The two walked in comfortable silence having performed this ritual for years. They would walk through the village together and she would ask questions about what she saw, and points of interest would be brought to her attention. Then, at one of the training grounds just outside the village proper they would spar, taking full advantage of the larger area the public training grounds afforded vs. the smaller private one inside the Hyuuga compound. And every misoka (last day of the month), uncle Hizashi or even Hiashi himself would take take her out. She never tired of the routine, always coming up with more questions to ask and never being satisfied with her performance in the sparring sessions. She wanted very much to be able to get out more often than the one day per week Hiashi allowed, but his firm response to her request had left no room for argument. She would train in the compound most of the week, and continue her education outside every kayoubi (Tuesday).

It wasn't long before noise to her left caught her attention. Students at the shinobi academy were cheering on their favorites in the sparring area, and others were rather vocally fawning over someone at the throwing range. Listening closer, she caught a name: Uchiha Sasuke.

She knew of the rivalry between the two doujutsu clans, but had never seen an Uchiha herself. Curiosity got the best of her, and it was only a moment before her cute little voice spoke her mind.

"Can we watch the students? Perhaps onee-sama will be there." She already knew her sister was skilled with kunai and shuriken, and the tired branch member knew that she knew, but saw no harm in humoring his charge for a few minutes. It would give him an opportunity to observe the elder daughter as she practiced.

Approaching the fence that kept civilians from getting too close, the two peered through and tried to identify their targets. Hinata was standing in line, twirling her thumbs around one another absent-mindedly as she cast alternating sidelong glances at the Inuzuka heir, and to the branch Hyuuga's surprise, Uzumaki Naruto. He raised an eyebrow at this, but said nothing, deciding instead to see what had interested Hanabi.

The tiny Hyuuga girl didn't seem to have settled on watching any particular person, but appeared to be looking for someone.

"Is there someone you wanted to see, Hanabi-sama?" he finally asked.

After a brief pause, she relented. "I wanted to see the Uchiha. Which one is he?"

With an amused smirk, he pointed at a young boy surrounded by girls all shouting his name, who only seemed more enthralled the longer the boy ignored them. The most outspoken pair, a plain-looking pink-haired girl and a pretty blonde, were fighting over who got to sit next to "Sasuke-kun" when they returned to the classroom.

Hanabi watched with curiosity as another boy, a poorly-dressed blonde with spiky hair, mumbled complaints about the teme getting all the attention as he tossed a kunai behind him at the target while walking back toward the school building with the other students, causing Hanabi to gasp in surprise. It wasn't that he had hit the target without looking. Her sister could do that, even without the Byakugan, What had startled her was that the kunai he had thrown had perfectly bisected Sasuke's kunai and had gone on to fully penetrate the tree the target was hanging from and go through another behind it before embedding into the ground a distance away. As was her habit when confronted with something she didn't understand, she activated her Byakugan, as did her escort. But what she saw made no sense. There was a trail of chakra in the air from about where the kunai had been thrown all the way into the ground where it now rested.

"Sensei, why is there chakra in the air, and how did that boy make the kunai go through the other kunai and two trees?"

Rather than answering immediately, he began leading her away from the school and back toward the clan compound. He debated ignoring her, but knew that once something caught her attention she would not let it go. Unlike Hinata, Hanabi was tenacious and dogged in her pursuit of knowledge, and especially answers to questions people didn't want to answer. After a few minutes of silent walking, Hanabi had concluded that her question would go unanswered when he finally sighed before speaking.

"You'll have to ask your father about that."

The rest of the trip back passed in silence as Hanabi considered why the branch member was unwilling to discuss the issue himself. Clearly, something was being kept from her. As young as she was, she had long ago learned that any time someone didn't give her an answer, she would be rewarded with something interesting for her don't-take-no-for-an-answer determination. She just couldn't imagine what it could be this time. She resigned herself to finding out more from her father that evening at dinner, and began quietly humming a tune she had heard that morning in the merchant district as they passed through on their way to the training ground.

Satisfied that she had dropped that line of questioning and only a little surprised that she remembered the song the bar's "mama" had been singing loudly as she cleaned the empty bar, he turned his attention to the Hyuuga compound's main gate, and the guards attending it. His pleasant demeanor soured slightly as he realized that in a few moments he would be free – to begin his own training for the day under Hizashi-sama's direct supervision. A word he had overhead in the bar a few nights before echoed in his mind: "troublesome".

-=NH4L=-

Naruto tossed his keys on the dining room table noisily as he slumped toward his bedroom and fell motionless on his bed. He wasn't tired so much as emotionally defeated. Why did the Uchiha brat get hordes of fangirls while he, the super-awesomest ninja in training in all of Konoha, got nothing but angry glares and insults from the very same fangirls. Only that weird shy girl was nice to him, and while she certainly wasn't ugly, he was confused by her behavior. She didn't seem to want to offend him, of that he was sure. But she didn't want to talk to him either, and had even passed out a few times when he had tried to strike up a conversation. Whenever he tried to figure out what she was really thinking, Kurama started giggling quietly in the back of his mind, but always refused to tell him what was so funny.

His mind wandered back to Sakura and Ino. They were so pretty, and yet neither one would give him the time of day, let alone be his friend. Especially Sakura. She was the most vocal with her loud banshee voice, always yelling at him for trying to compete with the teme, who in her mind couldn't possibly be defeated by the lowly likes of him. Stupid fangirls. If only Ino wasn't so pretty when she wasn't yelling at him. Sakura he had gotten over. It had taken a while, but her incessant shrieking at him and her surprisingly strong punches to his head at every opportunity had slowly but surely cured him of his attraction to her. He no longer tried to appeal to either of them when they insulted him and defended Mr. Duck Butt's honor. His only point of optimism on that front was the fact that Sasuke seemed to be just as irritated with the girls as he was.

Forgoing his usual self-guided training session, he eventually fell asleep – visions of pale lavender-eyed kunoichi confusing his subconscious mind, much to Kurama's giggling amusement.

_**I'll get you hooked up with her yet, and then...**_

But Naruto was already snoring loudly, too far gone to hear Kurama's musings.

-=NH4L=-

Hiashi's brow was twitching with irritation as his youngest daughter continued to prod him for details on the Uzumaki boy, at dinner in front of her older sister no less. He had to get her to drop the issue as quickly as possible without making Hinata more interested in the jinchuuriki than she already was – a scenario which would leave him with not one but two daughters asking questions he wasn't yet prepared to answer. But coming up with a way to explain away Naruto's high-chuunin-level skills without making the girls even more curious was proving to be far more troublesome than he had initially expected. After coming up with nothing for several uncomfortable moments, with two sets of curious eyes intent on hearing his explanation, he concluded that he would have to use _it_. He discretely channeled a tiny amount of chakra through the seal hidden under the low traditional Japanese table before which they all sat, Hiashi and his wife on one side, and their two inquisitive daughters on the other.

The effect was almost immediate. In just a few seconds their branch family cousin Neji's entered the room clearly out of breath from running, his sense of urgency evident on his face before he bowed low before the clan head, his body truly folded in half.

"Hiashi-sama! I apologize for rudely interrupting your family's dinner, but your presence is required immediately in the Hyuuga council chamber. Please come with me."

That the boy's face was dripping with sweat was not lost on the girls, but whether it was from exertion or nervousness at having interrupted the clan head's personal time with his family was a mystery that temporarily distracted them from their curiosity about Kurama's container.

"Surely whatever the honorable council wants can wait until my family has finished dinner." Hiashi challeneged, his show of indignation making the boy sweat even more.

"I was told the matter required your immediate attention, and that no delay could be allowed. Shall I wait for you outside, Hiashi-sama?" Neji asked, clearly anxious to remove himself from the tension his presence had created.

"That will not be necessary. Please return to the one who sent you and inform them that I will be along momentarily."

Neji bowed again before quickly excusing himself and leaving out the same door through which he had entered. Having channeled an undetectable amount of chakra to his ears, Hiashi heard the boy break into a run once he was clear of the clan head's house.

_That'll only work once more, if I'm lucky._ thought Hiashi. _Neji-kun is getting too old to be fooled like this for much longer._ He vowed to repay his brother for keeping his end of the bargain. He knew he'd have to answer their questions at some point, but exactly what he'd say was still up in the air. He would need the Hokage's permission to reveal anything real... Maybe the old monkey would authorize Inoichi to perform a targeted memory wipe. That would solve the problem, for now. But it would not prevent them from becoming curious again if either of them saw Uzumaki do something interesting. That kind of mind-altering procedure was not something he wanted to risk, just to cover for his own fear of the girls learning the truth about Naruto's tenant. But as a personal friend of both Minato and Kushina, he would do anything to make sure that his own daughters, if no one else, saw Naruto as the innocent little boy he was. Clever and uncouth, yes. Likely to prank everyone at some point, the biggest supporter of nutritionally-empty ramen in the whole village, and hell-bent on becoming Hokage and gaining the recognition of all of Konoha – all true. But a demon he was not, and Hiashi would protect that fact with his life if necessary.

He couldn't possibly imagine just what would be asked of him in the name of protecting the boy's image, nor how soon.

-=NH4L=-

And that's the end of chapter 1. Chapter 2 should be posted by mid-week, and chapter 3 by Sunday. After chapter 3 is posted, I'll likely slow down my posting schedule, as I work to reach an average length of ~7500 words per chapter (so more than 3x this length). But at least at first, I want to get the material up as quickly as possible. Read and review people.


	2. Chapter 2

Author's Note:

Holy crap it's been a while since I posted chapter 1. According to the almighty Traffic Stats page here on FF, it's been almost exactly 3 weeks. So much for my plan to post new chapters every week. But now that I have a more realistic understanding of the effort that goes into each chapter, as well as balancing my story time with the rest of my life, I can set more realistic expectations for myself. Of course, this is the process all first-time authors go through, but I didn't realize how much of a newbie I was, since I've been reading and proofing FF stories for 4+ years now. But all of that experience isn't worth much when you're trying to plan and execute a story by yourself. Even if you have help, it's a lot of work, a lot of time.

So, a revised schedule is in order. I expect I'll have new chapters up once or twice a month. I still respond to every review personally, and welcome detailed, lengthy, and/or thought-out commentaries on what you like, what you don't like, what you want, etc. If you can articulate your thoughts, I'm willing to hear them. Of course, flames will be gleefully quenched in the igloo of lost memories for safe keeping.

Chapter 2 provides a bit more character development, a bit of backstory, and really sets up chapter 3, which is where things start to get really interesting (wink wink). There probably won't be any lemons for quite a few chapters yet. After all, Naruto still has to do something with the Wave arc, if I decide to use it, and there are the chuunin exams. Currently, I'm planning for some sort of citrus action immediately following the chuunin exams, but we'll see.

Everyone has been hugely supportive of the story, so I want to thank everyone who reviewed, and to encourage others to put in your own two cents, and drop me a review. Let me know what you liked, didn't like, want to see, don't want to see, etc. I may or may not use your idea (or care about your whining ;) but I'll always listen.

On with the chapter...

* * *

"-ake up Naruto!"

"NARUTO!"

Only the scarred chuunin's big-head voice was able to rouse the whiskered blond from his sleep. That had been the case for a while now, Naruto mused as he looked around the classroom a bit groggily, drool running down the side of his mouth, as he tried to make sense of his surroundings and why his nap had been disturbed. As his vision focused, he noticed that the whole class was looking at him, many of them with angry scowls – Iruka's chief among them.

"Troublesome..." Naruto mumbled as he rubbed his eyes and wiped the slobber from his mouth. His classmates' expressions ranged from disinterest (Sasuke) to outright loathing (Sakura), and everything in between. The only faces that didn't seem to want him moved to another country were his friends Chouji, Shikamaru, Ino, and that weird girl Hinata – though Ino's aura still felt quite negative and she wasn't really his friend. Yet. But perhaps the fact that her animosity lacked the refined vitriol Sakura had seemingly spent the academy years cultivating with dedication and patience meant that he might one day be able to become friends with his fellow blond.

Class continued until lunch time when everyone left as quickly as possible except Hinata, who seemed to be _stuck_ of all things. His curiosity getting the better of him, Naruto walked from his desk in the far rear corner to the other side where she was still trying to free her jacket from a metal joint in her chair.

_**She wouldn't have that problem if she took her jacket off. What would she need such a large jacket for anyway? It's the middle of summer.**_

"Hinata?"

The blue-haired girl let out an "eep" as she looked up at him, her efforts forgotten when she saw how close Naruto had come.

"Why don't you just take off your jacket? Wouldn't that make it easier to get it out?"

While Naruto's question had been asked in a calm and polite manner completely lacking any untoward innuendo, Hinata's furious blush at being so close to her crush only intensified at his suggestion.

"Hinata?"

"..."

"Can I help?"

"You want to help me remove my jacket?" She looked up at him with a face that carried both alarm and a bit of desire, but as he started to voice his apologies for the misunderstanding, she promptly fainted.

Seeing that her head was falling toward the solid maple desk in front of her, he shot out his hand just in time to catch it and laid it gently down.

_Why does she keep doing that? Every time I try to talk to her!_

_**That will be a problem**_, Kurama thought to himself. **_But it won't matter if he doesn't start seeing females as something more than potential friends._**

Naruto shrugged and walked out of the room, anxious to get started on some of the melon bread that Chouji had brought for him before the large boy ate it all himself. He would have preferred ramen, but getting to Ichiraku's and back during lunch didn't really leave a lot of time to eat, and gama-chan had nothing else to give until his next stipend arrived. _Then_ he would dine properly, and maybe even bring along Ino, if he could get her distaste for him down to dull irritation.

The rest of the day passed without a single noodle going into his mouth, the tragedy that fact represented front and center in his mind as he fell asleep in his bed late that night.

* * *

Just as Hanabi pulled on her pants and grabbed the bandage roll she would use to wrap her upper chest (which she noted was _still_ absolutely and completely flat), she heard the sound of a throat clearing outside her door, but it was too quiet to have been outside her room. Was it then a visitor for Hinata one room farther down the hall?

"Hinata-sama, may I enter?" Hanabi heard through the thin fusuma that comprised the bulk of the main branch residence's walls and doors and separated her room from her sister's.

It was the voice of her cousin Neji of the branch family. Hanabi could hear her sister frantically working on something, the sound of clothes rustling clearly indicating that Hinata had not been fully dressed either. In fairness, it _was_ still early in the morning, and the sisters would not be expected in the dining hall for breakfast for another half hour.

"One moment, Neji-kun." came the response. More shuffling. "Come in."

Quietly activating her Byakugan, Hanabi saw the door slide open. Neji did not enter, instead opting to deliver his message from the threshold, his head bowed the whole time so that Hinata could not see his face.

"Hinata-sama, this is... difficult... for me. Today is the anniversary of my father's sacrifice and I would like to not be alone today." At that, Neji got down on his knees and bowed all the way down before Hinata. "I would be in your debt if you would accompany me today." He remained on the floor, prostrating himself in the most vulnerable position he could imagine to show his sincerity and desperation.

"Neji-kun." She looked at him with a sad, comforting smile before speaking again. "I think I would just remind you of what you've lost. I want you to look forward to the future with hope and positivity. Shouldn't you go with someone who makes you think of the future? Perhaps someone like Tenten-chan?"

Hanabi's expression turned sour as she remembered what had happened with Hizashi. It had been a terrible situation where either her beloved uncle or her own father had to die to save the village.

But her reverie was interrupted by the sound of a soft chuckle.

"Am I so obvious?" he asked.

"She _is_ your teammate, after all." Hinata replied. Her cousin's mood had lightened considerably, and she could tell that he would very much like to spend a day with Tenten. "Well then Neji-nii-san, shall I ask her for you?" she asked playfully. The look of embarrassed horror on his face was perfect, and she excused herself from her bedroom leaving him standing dumbstruck.

Having seen enough, Hanabi deactivated her doujutsu and continued dressing her small frame. Even more lilliputian than her same-aged peers, Hanabi had to wear clothes intended for people 2-3 years younger. It was a bit degrading, but as long as she remained aggressive with her training, her small size would prove to be an asset on missions in the field – when she graduated and could finally begin taking missions.

_Five more years_, she sighed in irritation at the thought. _Five years __of insulting and degrading humiliation amidst my untrained and __unmotivated __"peers" __during which we will be _enlightened_ with such gems of shinobi brilliance as kunai and shuriken throwing, __and __the __academy basics – the __kawarimi, bunshin, __and __henge. __But I'm not in the academy yet. Maybe I'll see th__at Uzumaki boy again today if I __can detour by the academy on the way home. Father seemed nervous last night at dinner __when I asked about Uzumaki... Is there something about him father doesn't want me to know? Does nee-sama know?_

After pulling on her training robe and sliding open her bedroom door, Hanabi padded down the hall to the dining hall finding Hinata, Hiashi, and Neji already seated even though breakfast wasn't scheduled to begin for at least a quarter hour.

"I apologize for my tardiness, otou-sama. I was unaware we were meeting early. Hinata-onee-sama, Neji-san." she said formally, bowing to each as she spoke their name.

"No apology is necessary, daughter. We are indeed seated early, and your mother has yet to join us. You may wait with us here, or rejoin us in twenty minutes." He smiled at her in what she recognized as his approximation of warmth, before going back to the report in front of him from the council outlining the issues they intended to raise at the next meeting. His face may have appeared to be studying the papers in front of him, but his mind was anxiously waiting to see if Hanabi would ask more questions about Naruto. He could sense her indecisiveness wavering between staying and stepping out briefly, but ultimately she decided to take her place at the long table. Her presence was completely silent as she settled into a blank stare straight ahead for a moment, then closed her eyes and waited.

Hiashi knew it would be a long and awkward 20 minutes, and he hadn't even guessed what she was imagining behind those closed eyelids.

* * *

It was the last spar before the final graduation exam, and as the afternoon sun beat down on the Konoha Shinobi Academy's latest batch of genin hopefuls, all of them were in the yard limbering up for the last informal tournament to determine rookie of the year as well as the rest of the class rankings, which would have a small affect on team placements. Naruto had no idea who he would be paired with, but he hoped that if nothing else, at least he hoped he wouldn't have to be on the same team as Sasuke the fangirl magnet or Sakura the banshee. Even Ino or that weird Hinata girl would be better. Maybe it would be fun to be on a team with Chouji and Shikamaru? But that didn't seem very likely. The Hokage seemed to like to place at least one girl on every team. Were there even enough girls for every team to have one?

He looked around the field as he continued to stretch and otherwise prepare for the day's spar. He had to do well enough to at least shake his title of 'dead last'. Anything but that. He wondered who he would have to spar against first? Which match-up would allow him to show off his skills without really showing anything truly interesting? He briefly locked eyes with the only other blonde in the class and held her gaze long enough to smile at her. Seemingly in response, her cheeks got red. Was she ok?

He didn't have time to think about it long, however, as Iruka and Mizuki began listing off the rules for the final spar and the match-ups. _Of course_, Naruto thought, _I get mentioned last. As usual._

"And finally, Naruto Uzumaki will fight Hinata Hyuuga. Will the first fighters please enter the sparring ring now, and everyone else please stand along the fence." Mizuki announced loudly as he joined Iruka along the fence and held up his clipboard to take notes on the spars that were about to begin.

Mizuki's spiteful tone of voice when he had nearly spat out Naruto's name had not gone unnoticed by the boy, but as always he simply pretended not to have noticed. Of much greater interest was the fact that they intended for him to fight a girl, and not just any girl, but the shyest, most timid one he had ever met. How would he be able to fight her? He didn't know why, but he suspected that she would forfeit. But what could he do? He couldn't forfeit himself, or he'd be guaranteeing his position as "dead last" for sure. But would she earn that title for herself if she forfeit? He recalled her doing quite well in the written portion of the class... She should be able to avoid the dead last designation on the merits of her knowledge and ninjutsu, even if she passed out or forfeited this spar.

He continued watching as the other students paired off and tried their hardest to best one another using their preferred combination of shinobi arts. He noted that most everyone used taijutsu, a few used ninjutsu, and only one attempted (unsuccessfully) to use genjutsu. It got him thinking.

_Kurama-sensei, are you awake?_ Naruto asked in his mind, quietly so as not to disturb the fox if he was sleeping. It wasn't out of fear or some sense of deference. He genuinely didn't want to disturb the fox's slumber. He was happy to wait if necessary.

_**Let me guess, you noticed the difference between the popularities of the various shinobi arts? This pathetic excuse for an academy doesn't actually teach kenjutsu or fuinjutsu. And not only are the students ignorant of even the most basic tenets of those disciplines, they are unable to defend against them.**_

_Can anything defend against fuinjutsu?_

_**At least you were paying attention to me... The best defense against fuinjutsu is to never find yourself the subject of a malicious seal. If that can't be helped, only another fuinjutsu specialist really stands a chance against another. It's a rarely-studied field that was largely responsible for the success, fame, and versatile strength as shinobi that your parents possessed, since both of them were seal masters. And before you ask, I'm not going to tell you all about your parents now either. Someday, yes. But not today.**_

_I remember you saying something about that before, but I didn't really pay much attention._ Naruto thought as he rubbed the back of his head out of habit – a gesture Shikamaru caught onto and noted due to the fact that Naruto wasn't talking to anyone, but normally only made that gesture when he was apologizing for something or embarrassed. Naruto went back to watching the matches, and finding nothing further of interest, the Nara heir did also.

* * *

It had taken seemingly forever to get through with her morning training, but she had succeeded in persuading her escort to allow her to observe the final academy spars while the students were still "in class". They would spar one more time as academy students, but that would be the genin exam final, and would be watched by a great number of interested shinobi, as well as the Hokage. She would try to watch that, to be sure. But this was the last time to watch them without them feeling the eyes of the audience and altering their performances to show off in more grandiose displays. This, this was just the students and their two sensei. Everyone knew everyone else, at least a bit. So they didn't feel nearly the compulsion to show off. And while she expected to be amused by the showing this year's graduates would make during their exam spars with their taijutsu instructor, Hanabi was just as happy to watch the students pair off against one another to see which set of skills worked well against which other, and which matches created a disadvantage for a student.

All her effort and – if she was honest with herself – excitement, at the prospect of seeing the spars appeared to be for naught as she could see once they got close enough that there were only 3-4 students still outside with the instructors in the field used for sparring. But as she started to lower her head in disappointment, she caught sight of a flash of orange. Only one genin hopeful wore that color. The Uzumaki boy's fight must be last. If nothing else, she would at least get to observe him again. She reached the fence just in time to see the penultimate match end in victory for a blonde girl wearing a lot of purple, whose victory dance was cut short by the whimpers of pain of her downed opponent – a red skirt-wearing pink-haired waif of a girl who didn't seem to have trained her body much, as evidenced by her lack of muscle tone.

As the two girls walked off the field back into the building, the only remaining students slowly walked into the circle. Hanabi hadn't been paying attention to them before, so she had only subconsciously registered that one of the two remaining fighters was her sister! The boy Naruto would be fighting her sister?

"Is it common for the girls to fight the boys?" she asked her escort anxiously, not sure how to feel about this development.

"It may not happen as much in your generation as it once did, but there was a time when it was considered necessary for kunoichi to fight the men so that they would understand the full range of what they would face on the field. Some felt that only having women spar with other women would eventually result in weaker kunoichi who were only suited to taking the sorts of missions that only a kunoichi can." The disgust in his voice was evident, but he continued.

"Still, in times of peace, when people have forgotten about the harsh realities of war, they tend to feel an instinctive desire to pair the females with other females out of a misguided need to protect them from the brutality they associate with the sometimes more outwardly aggressive men. The irony and largest flaw of that logic is that strong kunoichi are just as brutal as the men. Do you think Hokage-sama would have earned her position as the leader of a ninja village if she was too delicate to spar with men?" His face now carried an amused smirk as he stared at the Hokage monument's fifth face: the expressionless visage of Tsunade Senju. "The strongest, most intimidating woman to have ever earned a hitai-ate, and well-deserving of her place amongst the rarified company of her predecessors... Sandaime-sama chose well."

Hanabi considered his words as she silently watched Hinata walk nervously into the sparring circle to face Naruto.

"You speak like otou-sama, yet you are less than five years older to Neji-nii-san. How can you know such things?"

The teen chuckled a bit before answering.

"Are you calling me old?" he asked, feigning insult with another unsuccessfully-hidden smirk.

"Certainly not. Your ability to laugh and your fondness for smiling do a fine job of precluding any misunderstandings about your age." she replied, referring to the carefully-crafted blank façade her father and most elder Hyuuga normally wore.

Turning back to the remaining two fighters, Hanabi was dumbstruck at the scene before her. Instead of the graceful dance of wills and chakra-delivering strikes she was used to seeing when a Hyuuga used the juuken, or some sort of desperate effort to keep distance from Hinata she expected of the blonde boy, the two were awkwardly dancing around one another. Never before had the small Hyuuga ever seen such clumsy and uncoordinated movement. Why it would be coming from the boy whose wind-enhanced kunai had penetrated 4 trees and her sister, a student of the most graceful taijutsu style to elemental nations had ever seen... Hanabi could only watch in morbid fascination, simultaneously cringing and mocking the haphazard effort both students were making.

The two sparring monkeys, as Hanabi had began thinking of them, got slower and slower with their attacks and deflections as they moved closer together, gradually but consistently losing the distance that had previously separated them. Hanabi absently wondered how the comical scene before her would end when the two "fighters" inevitably collided, though "sleepy drunks" definitely seemed a more appropriate term, given their antics.

Then it happened. In a twisted exhibition of uncertain motion, someone's foot got behind someone else's leg, which was being blocked by yet another kunai-wielding hand (though the blade was being held in a manner clearly intended to prevent injury), which then dropped the semi-sharp weapon in the soft grass, causing another foot to trip over it, sending the whole tangled mess in an out-of-control tumble toward the ground.

Her previous amusement having given way to offense that a Hyuuga would act in such an undignified manner meant that her frown became even more severe when she saw how the two had landed. Naruto's hands were securely grasping Hinata's breasts, while Hinata's foot was gently tucked between his legs in a most delicate position. But both seemed unaware of their situation as the tried to regain their bearings, Naruto's grip tightening on the soft orbs as he attempted to push himself up.

Hanabi looked to Iruka and Mizuki hoping to find them rushing to help extricate the ridiculous pair from their self-made quagmire, but found instead the two chuunin each with a hand on the other's shoulder for support as they laughed loudly at the spectacle they had just witnessed. By this time, they were completely oblivious to the progress (or lack thereof) the two were making in their efforts to separate.

But one more squeeze from Naruto had apparently caused Hinata to realize where Naruto's hands were positioned and immediately faint, falling back to the soft grass and taking him with her. In an exasperated sigh, Naruto used a strategic kawarimi to replace himself with a nearby log, He had, apparently, realized where his hands had been, but rather than becoming embarrassed about what he had just groped, he looked alternatively at his hands, and then at her breasts, and back to his hands – his face clearly showing curiosity and maybe even a little shock, but none of the perverse or apologetic sentiments Hanabi had been prepared to see.

He confirmed with the still-giggling instructors that he would have to have a make-up spar with another student after lunch, and walked into the building to join the others, leaving the task of rousing Hinata to the two chuunin.

Hanabi's curiosity about the village pariah (as she had been told he was by no less than five civilians she had asked about the location of Naruto's house) only grew as she reviewed his reaction to having realized what his hands had been grabbing. He hadn't seemed at all gratified by his groping as her mother had once told her perverts were, but neither had he appeared especially embarrassed or even really aware of the significance of his actions. If anything, he seemed confused about something. Was it possible that he had never been told about breasts? Her young mind boggled at the thought. Surely everyone knew about the more sensitive areas of the body. Everyone had parents to give them informative (if a bit awkward) lectures about basic anatomy. Didn't they?

Her thoughts wandered to her own flat chest and for a moment she wondered what it would be like for someone to grope her in that way. She would find out sooner than she expected.

* * *

And that's the abrupt and awkward ending to chapter 2! I tore my hair out over the last 10-15 paragraphs, trying to get it just right... And then I posted it anyway.

Up to a much more respectable 4.1K now, we'll see if I can make chapter 3 closer to the 5K-7.5K target I had originally set.

Next time, Kurama tries a little harder to get Naruto to grow a libido and notice girls.


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